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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204566">life is a state fair (love is a ride)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/playedwright/pseuds/playedwright'>playedwright</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>IT (Movies - Muschietti)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Fun, Humor, M/M, Pictures, Slice of Life, State Fair, Teasing, so feel-good that my teeth actually hurt, very much them just being friends and dorks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:42:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204566</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/playedwright/pseuds/playedwright</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, coincidentally, Richie’s tour dates land him in Dallas during the dates the State Fair of Texas is open. After his show, when they’re all back at the hotel and pleasantly buzzed and a little bit piled on top of one another, Richie very casually says, “You know, we could go to that fair thing tomorrow, I think it’s open,” and Eddie gets the impression that it wasn’t a coincidence at all.</p>
<p>But the room bursts into excited babbling discussions about what they should do first, and Eddie watches as Mike and Bill clamber over each other in their haste to untangle themselves from everybody and get out of bed so they can find their laptops, and Beverly laughs so hard she snorts when she nearly gets kneed in the face by their wrestling, and Richie’s beaming so fucking wide that Eddie’s heart constricts almost painfully in his chest and he decides, even if it isn’t a coincidence, he’ll let Richie have this one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris, The Losers Club (Friendship)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>137</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>life is a state fair (love is a ride)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/butiamhome/gifts">butiamhome</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/deanlosechester/gifts">lycanthropology (deanlosechester)</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for <a href="https://twitter.com/bigtextozier">alyssa</a>, from <a href="https://twitter.com/turtle_sandbox">jd</a>, a little something to hopefully make your birthday as wonderful as you are! happy birthday alyssa!! &lt;3</p>
<p>disclaimer the author has never been to the state fair of texas and has actually only seen the inside of the dallas airport so the author is operating from google and from stories shared by jd about how cool the whole thing is so if u've been there and u know i wrote something incorrectly just pretend it's right in this universe where killer clowns exist :) thank u (and thank u jd for your help and for making me want to go to the state fair just so i can try to take a selfie with big tex this means everything 2 me mwah mwah)</p>
<p>enjoy!!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Somehow, coincidentally, Richie’s tour dates land him in Dallas during the dates the State Fair of Texas is open. After his show, when they’re all back at the hotel and pleasantly buzzed and a little bit piled on top of one another, Richie very casually says, “You know, we could go to that fair thing tomorrow, I think it’s open,” and Eddie gets the impression that it wasn’t a coincidence at all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But the room bursts into excited babbling discussions about what they should do first, and Eddie watches as Mike and Bill clamber over each other in their haste to untangle themselves from everybody and get out of bed so they can find their laptops, and Beverly laughs so hard she snorts when she nearly gets kneed in the face by their wrestling, and Richie’s beaming so fucking wide that Eddie’s heart constricts almost painfully in his chest and he decides, even if it isn’t a coincidence, he’ll let Richie have this one.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s worth it, for the near-manic but bright grin on Richie’s face when they get into the fair. He tries to take all of it in at once, eyes darting from attraction to attraction. Eddie smiles and twines their hands together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, so like, fuck whatever plan we had last night, right?” Beverly says. She has one arm linked through Ben’s and another through Patty’s, keeping them both close. Patty laughs next to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s there so much?” Eddie asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s like over two hundred and fifty acres, if I remember right,” Mike says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie whistles. “Everything’s bigger in Texas, right? Oh my god. Wait. Eddie—”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t,” Eddie interrupts. He puts his hand over Richie’s mouth, and around them, their friends all start to laugh. Eddie glares as he tells Richie, “Do not make the joke. Sometimes you don’t have to make the joke.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie’s grinning when Eddie pulls his hand away. “Fine, I won’t make the joke,” he says. He throws his hands up in the air to concede. They start walking again, and Richie tugs Eddie closer until Eddie almost hits his chin against Richie’s chest. Richie whispers, “I’ll just show you tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eddie laughs even as he smacks Richie’s arm and pulls himself away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s still early, so they stave off their plan to overindulge on as much fried food as physically possible until it’s a little bit later in the day. Eddie eyes the fried Oreos with a critical eye and makes a promise to himself that when they come back, he’ll give it a shot. It’s a quiet decision, not spoken out loud, but somehow they all decide to begin at the auto show. Eddie thinks he and Mike are more excited for this than any of the rest of them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Make sure you hold on to Richie’s hand, we don’t want you to get lost,” Richie teases. Eddie elbows him and twines an arm around his neck to pull him into a quick kiss. He’s still reveling in the fact that he gets to do that now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Want to hear me talk about cars for forty-five minutes?” Eddie asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“God, do I ever,” Richie tells him honestly, and so Eddie laughs and tugs him in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They separate, inside the auto show. Richie trails behind Eddie and holds his hand as Eddie takes them from car to car. Eddie babbles on about engines and models and he knows all of it goes over Richie’s head, but it doesn’t matter because he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>here with Richie. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He knows Richie feels the same about getting to be here with Eddie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ooh,” Richie says, when they walk past a Mustang. He trails his fingers across the hood. “This is what I’m talking about.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you even know what kind of car this is?” Eddie asks him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pretty?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eddie presses up on his toes and kisses him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’s not quite sure how they all manage to migrate back towards each other, but Eddie looks up from one car to find Richie summoning Bill and Mike over, and on the other side of the car he can hear Patty and Beverly laughing, and soon they’ve all reconvened. He wonders if it’s leftover Derry magic that keeps them bound like this. Constantly aware of where they all are. Deadlights magic, maybe, since both Richie and Beverly had gotten caught. Either way, he feels a pressure in his chest lessen once they’re all together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We should do the haunted house ride,” Stan suggests, as they walk out of the auto show. Eddie squints up at the sudden brightness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you insane?” Richie asks. “You want to willingly go into the spooky place?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, haven’t we had enough spooky for one lifetime?” Ben agrees. Beverly elbows him in the side and kisses the top of his head when he buckles down.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Stan rolls his eyes. “Exactly. We’ve had the spooky shit for real. We survived, right? Give or take a few days where that was debatable. We’re here now. And It’s a fake haunted house with teenagers dressed up like zombies.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Plus they legally can’t touch us, so we’re safe anyway,” Eddie chimes in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Richie turns to give him an incredulous look. “Et tu, Brute?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What the hell, I’m in,” Mike says. He swings his and Bill’s intertwined hands. “Bill? You in?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bill debates, looking between all of them. “What the h-h-hell,” he decides with a shrug. “Might as well m-make some. New memories.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s do it,” Patty agrees, and Beverly whoops loudly. All eyes turn to Richie and Ben, the last two to give in. It doesn’t take Ben long to melt under Beverly’s pleading gaze, and she kisses his hand when he agrees. Eddie raises an eyebrow at Richie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“All you, Tozier,” Eddie says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Aw, what the fuck,” Richie sighs. “Peer pressure me. Let’s fucking do it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a bit scarier than Eddie had anticipated, but Richie’s particularly clingy throughout the ride, holding on to Eddie’s hand and arm and almost clambering into his lap at one particular scare. He spends more time laughing than being afraid. If he’s being honest, that’s how he spends most of his days since Richie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” Eddie murmurs, and he pulls Richie’s attention away from the jump scares to tug him in for a kiss. Richie smiles against his mouth but returns it easily. Eddie wonders if they could get away with just doing this for the rest of the ride. It’s probably dark enough.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Get a room!” Mike yells, from behind them, and Eddie breaks the kiss when he starts to laugh. Bill wolf-whistles and pretty soon they’re being teased from all around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie presses their foreheads together. “I hate our friends.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, you don’t,” Eddie tells him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sighs, like he’s extremely put out. “Fine. I don’t.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They do a few more games on the midway while they’re there. Trying to kill time and make it to a little bit later in the day so they can justify getting food and beer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We probably want to do the rides first anyway so we don’t puke after eating all that fried shit,” Eddie says seriously. Everyone starts to laugh. Richie laughs so hard he doubles over, letting go of Eddie’s hand. “What? What’s so fucking funny?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t ever change,” Mike says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They do, eventually, leave the midway and decide to get food. Eddie thumbs through the pictures he snapped of his friends on the rides and smiles at all of them while Richie holds his hand and leads them to the food.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Big Bill, you know we gotta try all of them, right?” Richie says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“All the fried food?” Bill asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie nods seriously. “As much as we can fucking handle.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They all decide to get something different, for variety. Richie and Bill get multiple things. The rest of them, perhaps a little saner, start off with one order. Eddie’s fried Oreo looks disgusting but smells amazing. Ben looks thrilled with himself when he sits down with his fried ice cream. Beverly ends up with a turkey leg that’s bigger than her head, and she’s so damn smug about it that it makes them all laugh. Mike sits down, huffy and horrified and a little bit intrigued by his fried butter, and goes on a rant about it that makes Eddie laugh so hard soda comes out of his nose.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Patty and Stan bring beers to the table, and it’s hot as hell despite the fact that it’s October, so they all drink heartily. They sit and talk for awhile, and eat until their stomachs hurt. Eddie’s honestly a little impressed by how much Richie and Bill manage to try. Mike gets the next round, and Richie gets the third, and sometime after that Richie grabs his stomach and groans and lays his head on Eddie’s shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Think I made a mistake, Eds,” Richie mumbles. Eddie comes his fingers through Richie’s hair.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I could have told you that before you bought the third round,” Eddie says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Despite it all, they still get a fourth round after they throw away their garbage. Richie tries to scare Stan but jostles him so hard that Stan nearly dumps his beer down Richie’s shirt. They’re laughing, holding onto one another, sticky with sweat and heat and drunk more on each other’s company than any of the alcohol they’ve had today.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Mike gasps when they pass the livestock. He left farm life a long time ago, but they still go over and let Mike reminisce. Bill burrows up next to him and they tell stories about the summer Bill spent helping out on the Hanlon farm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How fucking oblivious were the rest of us that we didn’t realize you two were pining way back then, too?” Richie asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Think you can only ask yourself that, Rich, since it took you twenty seven years to realize Eddie liked you back,” Stan says, and he reaches up to pat Richie’s cheek. Patty starts to laugh next to him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie puts a hand over his heart, mock-offended. “Et </span>
  <em>
    <span>tu, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Pats? You didn’t even know me back then!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know enough,” she tells him. She blows him a kiss and he catches it in his hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We should get a selfie with Big Tex,” Beverly says, and the group all starts talking over each other in their excitement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They find out, pretty fast, that it’s pretty fucking hard to get a selfie with a fifty-five foot statue and seven people of various heights. Beverly tries to climb up onto Richie’s back and nearly topples to the ground when he stumbles. They’re all laughing so hard they can’t get a good picture, anyway. Eddie doesn’t notice it as it happens, but Patty steps away from the group and takes a picture of them herself. Captures the moment right after Richie squats down and Beverly jumps onto his back. Captures the moment where Ben’s bent over laughing so hard Eddie worries he’s going to lose his fried ice cream. Captures the moment that Stan reaches forward to catch Beverly when she starts to slide to the side, captures the moment that Eddie starts to yell that they need to be more careful, captures the moment right as Mike squats down himself so that Bill can try to jump onto his back himself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a perfect picture, when Eddie looks at it later. Blurry, because they’re all moving too much and laughing so hard that it would have been impossible for it to be any clearer. Big Tex looming in the background, the sky just starting to darken behind them. When they get home, after Patty texts the picture in the groupchat, Eddie will print it out and hang it up on their mantle. He’ll make it his background on his work computer. Wants everyone to know that these people are his family. When they get home, he’ll go through the other pictures as well, and he’ll print all of them, and he’ll use the selfie of him and Richie kissing at the top of the Ferris Wheel at the very end of the night as the picture on their wedding announcement, once they decide to send those out. He’ll take all the pictures and he’ll give them to his friends and they’ll pull him into their arms and hug him tightly and he will remember that he’s alive and he’s loved, and he’ll be grateful for it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But that’s all for later. For now, the sun has set and he and Richie are stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel. His entire body is sore, and he’s certain he’ll have blisters on his feet once they get back to the hotel and he takes off his tennis shoes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re giving me a foot massage when we get home,” Eddie grumbles.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie chuckles. “You think you’re the only one who walked around the entire State Fair today? Try again, Eduardo.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Richie,” Eddie whines.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine, fine,” Richie concedes. He kisses the top of Eddie’s head. “Since it’s you askin’.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wouldn’t do it for any of your other boyfriends?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn straight.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eddie laughs. “I’d give you shit for pretending you have other boyfriends but you wouldn’t be able to handle more than me and those are just straight facts, sweetheart.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Richie waggles his eyebrows, and Eddie can sense the terrible joke before Richie even makes it. He’s already groaning as Richie says, “You’re right, you certainly are a </span>
  <em>
    <span>handful. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sometimes even two, when I really want to drive you nuts.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How far of a drop do you think it is?” Eddie deadpans, looking over the edge of the cart. Richie tugs him back with a loud laugh.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How cliche would it be if we made out right now?” Richie asks.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eddie tilts his head to the side, considering. Richie watches him in amusement. It hit him hard sometimes, the way Richie looks at him. He didn’t know people actually looked at the person they loved like that. He’s certain he looks back the same way. “Pretty cliche,” Eddie admits, and Richie pouts. He can’t even keep the smile off his face as he continues, “But we’re gonna do it anyway.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He tugs Richie forward by a fistful of his shirt, and Richie’s laughing still as Eddie kisses him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>you can find me on <a href="https://twitter.com/SPACERICHlE">twitter</a> if you want to come say hello!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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